KISS to play New Hampshire in July

KISS have revealed plans for a summer tour that will bring them back to New England this summer. The legendary classic rockers will play the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire on Tuesday, July 12. Tickets for the show, which range in price from $29.50 to $77.50, will go on sale Friday at noon through Ticketmaster.

“We’re doing these shows to honor our promise to play these cities,” the band declared on their website when announcing the tour. “We said we’d do it, and we are!”

KISS recently started recording their follow-up to 2009’s Sonic Boom with singer-guitarist Paul Stanley once again producing the new material. The band’s current lineup is rounded out by original bassist Gene Simmons, guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer.

“It truly sounds amazing and the new songs are kicking my ass,” Thayer said of the new album on his website. “We cut basic tracks for a bunch of songs together as a unit in the studio for two or three days. We all agreed that we’ve never got tracks that sound this good before.”

Of course, outside of the studio, KISS remains very busy. At the New York Auto Show last month, MINI USA revealed four MINI Countryman vehicles with Kiss-inspired designs. Each car represented one of the KISS band member’s iconic faces. The cars, which have since been signed by all four KISS members, will soon be auctioned off to benefit UNICEF. Fans will be able to bid on the vehicles during a special eBay charity auction opening May 29.

The band also recently teamed up with Monster Mini Golf to develop a KISS-themed indoor glow-in-the-dark miniature gold course in Las Vegas. The attraction will be located across from the Hard Rock Hotel, at the Shoppes at Harmon Square. It’s tentatively scheduled to open later this fall.

In other KISS news, Gene Simmons will appear as himself on tonight’s episode of Castle, which airs at 10 p.m. on ABC.